Canter chipper heads for processing logs in order to produce wood chips and square pieces of lumber are known in the art. An example of such a canter chipper head can be seen in Canadian Patent 2,314,718 issued on Aug. 21, 2001 to Pelletier et al.
Chips that are produced from canter chipper heads have many uses. Therefore, when forming wood chips it is required that the chips are of a certain consistency and quality. There are a number of factors involved in the production of quality chips, one such factor is the canter chipper head design and more specifically, the cutting surface design of the head.
A deficiency with many canter chipper heads, such as the one described in Canadian Patent 2,314,718, is that the chipper head has only a single cutting assembly for performing both the chip cutting and the finishing of the piece of lumber. This puts a significant amount of stress on the blades of the cutting assembly, which results in an inconsistency in the quality of the chips being produced, and a shorter life span for the cutting assembly.
Therefore, based on the above described deficiencies with the prior art, there is a need in the industry for an improved cutting surface for canter chipper heads.